


Ice Skating

by leighbot



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2705633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighbot/pseuds/leighbot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Looking up at Louis now, his face soft and open, Zayn doesn't know how to admit that he doesn't want to feel like a fool. Instead he shakes his head ‘no’ and purses his lips, staring at the skates as if they had personally offended him.</i>
</p>
<p>or, the one where Zayn really doesn't want to ice skate but Louis is so pretty and smiles so wide for him and he'll try it, okay? He'll try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ice Skating

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 of the 'December Fanfic Challenge' on Tumblr. Prompt is 'Ice Skating.'
> 
> I intend to do several more of these prompts, but they will all be unrelated drabbles with different pairings, ratings and settings. All warnings (if any apply) will be listed at the beginning.
> 
> This has been looked over by lovely Ms Kate. All remaining mistakes are mine- I can't resist tweaking last minute!

Zayn is _not_ going to do it. Nope.

Not happening today.

“M’not doing it, Lou,” he mutters, kicking his foot like a child. His cheeks are pink with embarrassment and cold equally, and he hasn’t known Louis very long, but just enough to know he is not getting away with refusing to skate.

“Have you ever tried before?” Louis asks kindly, coming around to the opening and walking carefully across to the bench Zayn is perched on.

He thinks back to his one and only experience with ice skating, when he was five and his older sister dragged him out. He was so excited to try his first pair of skates, and the lake was popular with families in the area. His mum wrapped him up in warm clothes and took them out together, clapping from the side as Doniya helped him gets his legs. He had only been on the ice a moment when his sister moved to fast for him to keep up and his legs flung out from underneath him as he tried to keep up. His hand had smacked so hard onto the ice he’d bruised for days, and the embarrassment of having the other kids see him fall and cry for his mum had left an ugly association with ice skating in his mind since.

Looking up at Louis now, his face soft and open, Zayn doesn’t know how to admit that he doesn’t want to feel like a fool. Instead he shakes his head ‘no’ and purses his lips, staring at the skates as if they had personally offended him.

“I’ll be right next to you, the whole time,” Louis encourages, slumping into the spot next to him and wrapping an arm around Zayn’s shoulders. He gets dragged into Louis’ side, and laughs when Louis uses his other hand to poke him in the side.

“I don’t want to fall,” Zayn admits, ducking his head.

Louis squeezes him tighter for a second before letting go and standing. “If I can promise you won’t fall, will you try?”

“You can’t promise that.”

Louis laughs, and Zayn looks up at him again. Since meeting the month before at a party his flatmate had thrown, Zayn has been obsessed with Louis’ laugh. It’s high and slightly manic sometimes, but it’s always been genuine around Zayn. Louis motions for Zayn to lace up his boots the rest of the way, before tugging him up by his hand and leading him to the edge of the ice. There are only about a dozen people, mostly couples paired up and skating leisurely side-by-side. It’s just about the perfect time- too late for most of the school kids but not too early for the night crowd. The sun is still hovering above the horizon, and everything is cast in a pink hue that makes Zayn’s fingers itch for his sketchbook.

“I’ve taught all of my younger sisters to skate, and only one has fallen,” Louis says, stepping onto the ice and turning to grab Zayn’s other hand. “Truly, it was Lottie’s own fault; she tried to do fancy spins like she was shooting for Gold or summat. But you’re much cuter than her.”

“Don’t try to distract me by calling me cute,” Zayn mumbles. He follows Louis’ tug and puts one blade precariously on the ice. With another soft pull, Louis gets him to step his other blade forward, and stands still while Zayn breathes in deep. When Zayn nods slightly, Louis lines them up with the half-wall, and kicks out to glide back. Zayn feels foolish being tugged like a little boat, but he’s too scared to let go and try on his own. Falling in front of Louis- who is unfairly good at all sport- would be torture. He starts to move his own feet carefully, following the pattern Louis is setting. He looks up and sees Louis watching his face carefully, a smile growing when they make eye contact. Zayn tries to keep his head up as long as he can, but he has to look back down when he doesn’t trust his feet.

“I’m going to let go now with my left hand, and I’ll skate over so I’m on your side. You can grab the wall if you need to balance, but I think you’ve got it,” Louis says, slowly doing as he had said until he’s skating alongside him. Zayn reaches out with his right hand towards to wall, but doesn’t make contact, just using it as a precaution.

He doesn’t need it, though, and eventually lowers his hand entirely. Louis leads him around the rink several times, never too fast for Zayn to keep up, and never letting go of his hand. Zayn can’t keep the smile off his face, laughing when they pass a little boy showing his sister how to skate backwards.

“Don’t even think about it,” Zayn warns Louis.

Louis narrows his eyes and looks about ready to set a challenge. Zayn just shakes his head and tugs lightly at Louis’ hand, just enough pressure to remind him that they’re still linked. Louis glances down at their hands and smiles sweetly back up at him. “We’ll have to save something for next time,” he says.

_Yeah_ , Zayn thinks. _Next time._

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi: [tumblr](http://sa-voix.tumblr.com/)


End file.
